


Kitchen Confidential

by fanfoolishness (LoonyLupin), LoonyLupin



Series: Starshine Over Beach City: Moments from Steven Universe [15]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Baking, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Little Homeworld, Post-Steven Universe: The Movie, Steven Universe Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21554272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/fanfoolishness, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/LoonyLupin
Summary: Lars meditates on the strange turns his life has taken, while tackling a complicated recipe and even more complicated questions from Steven.
Relationships: Lars Barriga & Off Colors, Lars Barriga & Steven Universe, Lars Barriga/Sadie Miller
Series: Starshine Over Beach City: Moments from Steven Universe [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1523993
Comments: 14
Kudos: 208





	Kitchen Confidential

Lars stepped into the home, setting down the bags of groceries he’d brought from Beach City. They were heavy, but he was starting to get the hang of making those weird pink portals. It sure made grocery shopping a lot easier.

The house was quiet. He remembered Fluorite had mentioned earlier that she and the Rutile Twins were going to to the west end of Little Homeworld to help with some of the construction. Padparadscha had probably tagged along out of curiosity. He wasn’t sure where Rhodanite was, but she’d been hanging out a lot with Garnet lately. They’d be back soon enough.

That was fine. He loved living with the other Off Colors, but sometimes he missed shutting himself up in his old room in his parents’ attic and being alone with his thoughts.

That reminded him. It was what, Wednesday? He’d have to swing over to Mom and Dad’s tomorrow for their weekly board game night. Sometimes Steven came. Usually Sadie made it, and sometimes Buck, Jenny and Sour Cream. Occasionally they brought the board games here so that Fluorite and the other Off Colors could fit and join in. It was usually pretty fun unless Lars lost. They’d all learned the hard way that Risk wasn’t fun for anybody.

Lars scanned the kitchen, making sure he had the right pans out. Theirs was the only house in Little Homeworld with a full kitchen, sink and oven. Steven had insisted on it, and Lars had had to admit it had been a good idea. Even if he didn’t need to eat, he still liked the baking.

He pulled out the ingredients. Walnuts, eggs, milk, yogurt. He rummaged in the cupboard for the staples he already had, the sugar, lemons, oil. He hauled out the butter from the fridge and set it out to soften. 

His hands moved swiftly, securely, forming the dough. He knew you could get phyllo dough pre-made, and sure, he’d used it before. But there was something so damn satisfying about making it from scratch. He knew it wasn’t necessary. But he liked doing it anyway.

Lars hummed one of Sadie’s new songs as he waited for the dough to rest and started preheating the oven. She was so _good._ He’d always known she could sing, but Sadie Killer and the Suspects were probably the best thing to ever happen to Beach City. Grinning, he made a mental note to see if she wanted to come over after rehearsal tonight. 

He started dividing the dough into tiny balls, rolling them out in round one. Once he’d rolled out everything, he turned to the hard work of rolling them out a second time, making them as thin as possible. He remembered when he’d been _scared_ of this part. Yeah, phyllo was fiddly. But scarier than dying on an alien homeworld or stealing a spaceship? He snickered at the idea.

Thin leaves of dough, walnuts, melted butter. He inserted the tray into the oven and set about cleaning the kitchen, humming all the while. He started on the syrup.

There was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Lars called. 

“Hey, Lars,” said Steven, heading into the kitchen. He was hard to miss in that pink jacket. “It smells _awesome_ in here. I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d say hi.”

“Did you wanna stay?” asked Lars. “This has to cool for a couple hours after I bring it out of the oven, but I don’t have anything going on for a while today if you’re free.”

Steven took a seat at the kitchen table. “Sure! I just got back from Homeworld and it’s nice to be around someone who isn’t a Diamond trying to smother me with affection.”

“Those giant ladies are like the grandmas to end all grandmas,” said Lars sagely. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, my grandma’s awesome, but I think she’ll always treat me like a little kid.”

“Exactly,” sighed Steven. He looked tired, with faint circles under his eyes. Lars frowned.

“Hey… you okay, man?”

“Me? Yeah, no, I’m fine,” said Steven hurriedly, rubbing the back of his neck. “How about you? It’s been a little while. Are you still enjoying living with the Off Colors?”

The timer went off and Lars pulled out his pan after putting on some oven mitts. He set the pan on top of the oven and carefully poured the syrup over the crisp, golden dough. It smelled insanely good.

“Yeah,” said Lars, pulling off his oven mitts and taking a seat beside Steven. “We just get each other, you know? Besides, I already knew they’d be good roommates. We did great on the journey back to Earth.”

“Do you miss space?” Steven asked thoughtfully. “Do you ever want to go back? You've still got the ship.”

“I dunno,” said Lars. He pursed his lips, thinking. “When I was out there, I just wanted to get home. Now that I’m here, I’ve got a lot of other things going on. I mean, I’d hate to leave Sadie again. Not to mention my parents and my friends. I haven’t ruled it out, though.” He looked down at his hands, pale pink, smooth, unscarred. “I mean, I have time, don’t I?”

“Lars?” asked Steven, leaning his chin on his hands and looking worried. “Do you ever get… scared about the future?”

“Sometimes,” said Lars. He draped an arm over his seat back, staring up at the ceiling. “I mean, we don’t really know what’s going to happen, right? I died already and now I’m magic. You’re half-magic but it’s _serious_ half-magic. Like, are we ever gonna be normal? Are we gonna outlive everyone? Of course I wonder about it.”

Steven was quiet, staring hard at the table. He swallowed.

Lars shrugged. “I dunno. It’s scary, but… I’m not scared anymore? Does that make sense?”

Steven reached out, placing a familiar high-five square on Lars’ chest. He looked up at Lars with wide eyes. “Yeah. I think it does.”

Lars smiled at him, returning the high-five. “Dude, you ever want to talk… you know where to find me.”

Steven settled back in his chair, putting his hands in his pockets and smiling. “Thanks, Lars.”

“Now, come on. You wanna play some video games while we wait for the baklava to cool?”

“Sure, but… Baklava?!” Steven said in surprise. “I thought it used to scare you. Isn’t it supposed to be really hard to make?”

Lars winked at him. “ _Captain_ Lars kicks baklava’s ass, Steven. I make it all the time now.”

Steven grinned at him, his eyes bright. “You know, I’m really proud of you, Lars.”

“Come _on_ , don’t make it weird.”

“Okay, okay, okay…”

**Author's Note:**

> haha I couldn't resist throwing in a little Steven angst to this otherwise happy Lars story, I just couldn't help myself. I'm scared for Steven Universe: Future, what can I say?


End file.
